Something in Common
by natashaheisenburg
Summary: Non-canon. From a Woman's POV-verse. Li Mei is angry at Kenshi and he has absolutely no idea why. He concludes that they always fight because they have nothing in common. fem!Sub-zero helps out the pair in the strangest way. One-shot. Li Mei/Kenshi.


**A/N: **

**!READ THIS BEFORE READING THE STORY:!  
**

**Before we start, let's get a few things straight. This is parallel to my previous story: From A Woman's POV. (The one where Sub-zero gets turned into a girl by Quan Chi. And she falls for Scorpion.) This takes place 2 years after the final battle. So Kenshi can see, Sub-zero's still a girl and Scorpion's become a lot kinder. Hanzo is Scorpion's brother. Hanzo and Kenshi, and Kenshi and Scorpion have all settled their differences. **

**Those who haven't read my first fanfic night not understand the Sub-zero/Scorpion references here. Nor would you know who Hanzo is.  
**

**Okay? :)**

**Very well then, on with the story. :P**

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Li Mei stood in front of Kenshi, her back facing him. Kenshi sighed at her.

"Li Mei…" he said exasperatedly.

"What?" She snapped at him as she continued to punch and kick through the air as if battling an invisible foe.

"What did I do this time?" Kenshi scratched his head in confusion. What _did_ he do this time? He wasn't aware that he'd done something to offend her.

"Nothing." She took her sword out and slashed away.

"I've obviously done something to offend you." He crossed his arms across his chest. "Just tell me what I did and I'll apologize."

"Nothing. You've done nothing wrong." Li Mei kept an impassive face.

"Then why are you so angry at me?"

"I'm not angry at you." She replied stubbornly.

Kenshi rolled his chocolate brown eyes.

"All right, then. Why aren't you speaking to me?"

"I'm talking to you right now, am I not?"

"All right." Kenshi sighed in annoyance. He turned around and stalked out of the training grounds. When he reached the living room, he expelled a breath he didn't even know he was holding. He sat down on one of the sofas and rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

He didn't remember doing anything that might have offended Li Mei. He sighed for the third time. They were supposed to be happy.

One week ago, Scorpion had asked all of Sub-zero's friends to go to their base in Edenia. He told them that he wanted to surprise Sub-zero with a party. Everybody readily agreed.

So, all of them had gathered in the house and surprised Sub-zero. When the day ended, Kenshi noticed that Li Mei looked a bit down. When he tried talking to her, she didn't respond. Kenshi thought it was just the effect of the alcoholic beverages. But she still wasn't talking to him today…and he was quite sure that the effects of alcohol should have passed after one day.

_I need advice._ He thought as he stood up and climbed up the stairs. He went straight to the fourth floor of the house. He knocked on the door on end of the corridor and opened it. He was surprised to see Kitana, Jade, Sareena and Ashrah dressing Sub-zero in a wedding dress. It was long, white and – for lack of better term for it – frilly. It had a lot of ruffles on the sleeves and along the hem of the dress.

"Uh…" Kenshi seemed unsure of what to say. Were Scorpion and Sub-zero going to get married? He grinned inwardly.

_If they were getting married, Sub-zero would never wear anything like _that.

Sareena was the one who spotted him.

"Kenshi! What are you doing here?" she demanded. "Guys shouldn't be here."

"Er…I wanted to speak with Sub-zero, but you all look busy so, I'll come back later."

As he was about to close the door, Sub-zero spoke.

"No! No! We aren't busy at all. I'll just go change." She told him. Her voice sounded relieved. Kenshi shrugged and closed the door. He stood beside the doorway and stared at the ceiling until Sub-zero came out of the room.

"What's up?" she asked.

Kenshi didn't answer. The two made their way to the balcony in silence. When they closed the door behind them, Kenshi spoke up.

"So…" he smirked. "Are you going to tie the knot with Scorps?" he asked.

Sub-zero raised an eyebrow at him.

"Surely you didn't drag me out here just to tell me _that._"

"You didn't exactly answer my question." He grinned at her. He loved teasing her. She was so responsive.

"What even gave you _that _idea? And to answer your question: No. I am not." She rolled her eyes at him.

"You were wearing a wedding gown when I entered the room." He pointed out.

"Jade thought that I should wear the gowns and model it for them, so that Kitana could pick out the one she wanted most. She's getting married to Liu Kang in three months and she still has no dress! And don't even get me started about how they tried to make me walk in high heels." She shook her head.

"I would've _loved_ to see that."

Sub-zero smacked him playfully on the arm. Then abruptly, she turned serious.

"Even if I wanted to get married to Scorpion…it's impossible." She stared at the mountains in the distance. She sighed.

"Why is that?" Kenshi asked her softly.

"Or clans are much too different. Even if we _did_ get married, how do we manage our clans? We can't merge them. If we try to, where would we move? The Shirai Ryu won't survive in Arctika, and the Lin Kuei wouldn't be able to train properly in the heat." She propped her elbows on the ledge and cupped her cheeks with her hands. "If we get married and have children, whom will the children live with? It would be terrible to separate them, don't you think? But that _may _happen if one of them has fire abilities, and the other has ice."

"I…see. But you're unhappy."

"Not really. I'm happy with our current situation. But I'm afraid that one day, he'd want a family. And I can't give that to him…and he might leave me." She turned her head to look at Kenshi. "Because of the differences in our clans, we can't do it. And I love my clan as much as he loves his, so we can't just abandon them and elope."

"Well…one thing's wrong with your statements."

Sub-zero looked at him in puzzlement.

Kenshi grinned. "Scorpion will never leave you. I am _sure_ of it."

Sub-zero smiled at him. "Thanks, Kenshi." She hugged him. After he let go, Sub-zero grinned at him.

"Sorry. _You _wanted to talk to me, and I ended up rambling about myself." She shook her head. "What's troubling you, my friend?"

Kenshi's grin faded into a frown.

"I got into a fight…" he trailed off.

"That doesn't seem too bad." Sub-zero blinked at him.

"…with Li Mei." He finished.

"Again?" She mimicked his expression.

He nodded.

"What's the fight about this time? The color of your bed sheets? You guys always fight over the smallest things."

"It's because we don't have anything in common."

"Sure you do."

"Really?" Kenshi looked skeptical. "Give me one thing I have in common with Li Mei."

Sub-zero looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Tell me what happened." She ignored his last statement.

Kenshi launched into a very long and descriptive narration of what had taken place. He told her everything he had done the past week. Sub-zero remained quiet throughout his story.

"And now, she isn't talking to me? What the Netherrealm am _I _supposed to do? I don't even know why she's angry." He sighed and sat on the railing.

"Hmm."

"What?"

"You gave me flowers for my birthday, right?" she asked him.

"Yeah. I gave you white roses yesterday. Your favorite, right?"

Sub-zero nodded and squinted as if she were deep in thought. And then all of a sudden, her mouth turned into an 'O' and he face was filled with what Kenshi thought was some sort of knowledge on the matter.

"What is it?" Kenshi asked her. Sub-zero looked like she had an epiphany.

Much to his surprise, Sub-zero burst out laughing.

"What? Do you know what's bothering her?" Kenshi raised his eyebrow at her strange behavior. He expected Sub-zero to shed some light on this matter. He was wrong.

She extended her forefinger and waggled it in front of him.

"Ah, ah, ah. I'm not telling you." She grinned at him. "You have to find out for yourself."

"What?" Kenshi exclaimed. "That's not fair, Subbie! I _always _help you when you have problems with Scorpion!"

"Nuh-uh. You have to figure this one out for yourself. Find the answers. Make an assumption based on observations." She continued to grin at him.

"What observations?"

Sub-zero merely shrugged at him, the smirk plastered on her face. Just as Kenshi was about to ask protest, the door behind them opened, revealing a weary-looking Hanzo.

"Hanzo, are you all right?" Sub-zero asked her student.

He leaned on the doorway, panting.

"I was merely…uh…"

"Sareena again, huh?" Kenshi guessed.

It took Hanzo a while before answering.

"…Yeah." He admitted. He ran his fingers through his short hair.

"Good luck."

"Thanks. I'll be needing it." He closed the door as he exited; then he opened it again. "By the way, Grandmaster, Scorpion-aniue is looking for you." He told her.

To make things easier for everyone, Scorpion had told Hanzo to call him by his clan alias instead of his real name…at least that was what Kenshi thought.

"Why?" She asked, confusion evident in her face.

Hanzo merely shrugged.

"All right. I'll go to him." She nodded at him.

When the boy left, Sub-zero let out a sigh. Kenshi looked at her and raised his left eyebrow.

"Sareena has to stop using Hanzo as a punching bag." Sub-zero tied her hair. "She _knows_ that Hanzo isn't as experienced as she is."

"She's just venting out her frustrations." Kenshi took his headband – once his blindfold – off. "If anyone's to blame here, it's Hanzo. He allows Sareena to 'spar' with him." He added as he saw the look Sub-zero gave him. "He doesn't _have _to do it."

"That's the problem. He jumps from one fixation to another. At one point in time, he was obsessed with me…now Sareena? She's already with that ex-general."

"You mean Reiko?" Kenshi knew that Sub-zero never approved of Reiko. He was, after all, general to Shao Kahn's army, dubbed as one of his most loyal servants. Kenshi, however, had no qualms about it. Sareena was allowed to fall in love with whomever she wants. "I know you used to like Sareena, Subbie," he said, knowing that Sub-zero was thinking of ways to get rid of said general. "But unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about her falling in love with him."

"I know that." She massaged her temples. "I just wish she picked someone better. I mean…after all, she used to like me. I thought she'd end up with Hanzo."

"I thought so, too. But she only thought of him as a friend."

"Yeah."

A moment of silence passed.

"We're gossiping again." Sub-zero chuckled.

"No. We aren't gossiping. We are merely…" he paused to think of the right word. "Discussing matters which concern other people."

"Isn't that the definition of gossiping?"

"I guess." Kenshi laughed. After a while, his expression turned serious. "Now, you seem to know why Li Mei is angr-,"

"Oh yeah! Scorpion's looking for me. I better go. Bye." Sub-zero walked towards the door and, with a wink, she left Kenshi alone with his thoughts.

He scowled at the door, hoping that Sub-zero would see it. But that would be impossible…unless Sub-zero had some sort of x-ray vision only she knows about. Kenshi stared at the headband he was clutching in his hand.

What had Sub-zero said? Make an assumption based on observations? And she seemed to have figured out why Li Mei was ignoring him when he mentioned the white roses. He rubbed his eyes. None of it made sense.

He stretched his limbs. He jumped off the railing and leaned on it instead. He propped his elbows on it and stared at the horizon. The sun was already setting. How long had he and Sub-zero been talking? He looked down and stared at the figure sitting on the grass.

Just by looking at her, Kenshi felt soothed. As if just by gazing at her as she watched the sunset, he could forget all his problems. Even if they had fought, surely they would put this all behind them. A warm feeling emerged from his chest as he watched her take off her bandana. The mere sight of her was enough to make Kenshi feel like a teenager again. He smiled. He'd just go and talk to her. It was the most logical thing to do.

He exited the balcony and made his way down the stairs, flashing a grin towards Sub-zero as he passed her. She nodded in acknowledgment. She was talking to Scorpion about something. He couldn't exactly hear what it was, but Scorpion looked amused. Very amused. He only caught snippets of their conversation.

"…jealous...yeah…crazy…those two…" was all he understood. He opened the door and stepped outside, feeling the cool breeze as it blew passed him. He walked slowly. He needed to know how to phrase his statements.

_How do I tell her? Hmm. 'Li Mei, have a seat.' No, that sounds so negative. 'The two of us need to talk.' Uhh. Not sure about that one. 'Li Mei…I need to talk to you.' Hmm. Nope, still not that one._

As Kenshi reached the clearing, he heard Li Mei laughing. Her laughter was music to his ears. Her next statement, however, wiped the smile off his face.

"Really, Hanzo?" Did that damn kid _have_ to flirt with every girl Kenshi was after? "Ha, ha, ha. That's so funny." Kenshi squinted as he saw Li Mei sitting on the grass, putting bandages on Hanzo's arm. The boy had so many injuries.

_No doubt inflicted by Sareena. _Kenshi thought as he situated himself a few feet from them.

"Yeah, and there was one time when…" Kenshi tried to tune out Hanzo and only focused on Li Mei's responses.

After a few moments passed, Kenshi's annoyance was escalating.

"Ha, ha, ha. You're really funny, Hanzo. I like you."

Kenshi snapped. He marched over to the two as they stood up.

"Is something wrong?" Hanzo asked innocently.

_Damn kid._

"Yes." He replied curtly. He focused his gaze on Li Mei, who looked as confused as he was when _she_ was angry at him. "What the Netherrealm was that?"

* * *

Sub-zero raised her head abruptly.

"What's wrong?" Scorpion asked her.

"Nothing's wrong." She smiled. "In fact, something's right." She grabbed Scorpion's arm and dragged him out of the house. Sub-zero only stopped walking when they were a few feet away from the shouting pair.

"You call this right?" Scorpion quirked an eyebrow at her.

"You mean to tell me that _nothing_ was going on? A little _something_ was going on when you said that you liked him!" Kenshi was shouting, waving his hands in the air.

"Yes! I said I liked him, but as a _friend, _Kenshi, a _friend_." Li Mei emphasized.

Kenshi snorted. "Yeah right. You expect me to believe that? I feel so awful to have interrupted such a sweet moment between you two!" he remarked, sarcastically.

"Well what about you? You gave Sub-zero flowers for Raiden's sake! Friends don't usually give flowers to each other!" she answered back.

"You did well, Hanzo." Sub-zero told him as he made his way towards her, escaping from the two.

"Thank you, Grandmaster. Although I am still curious as to _why _you wanted Kenshi to get jealous and _how _you knew it was going to make him jealous." He admitted.

Scorpion stared at the couple. "I am curious myself."

"Watch." She beckoned to them. All three of them turned their attention back to the couple.

"You are so infuriating!" Li Mei gritted her teeth.

"Oh yeah? Well you are more infuriating!"

"Can't think of your own insults can you?"

"Of course I can! You incorrigible woman!" Kenshi clenched his fists.

"Argh!" Li Mei shouted.

"Argh!" Kenshi groaned in annoyance.

"Argh!" The two said simultaneously, which caused the three to smile in amusement. Li Mei grabbed Kenshi's collar. The two brothers looked at Sub-zero in alarm. But to their surprise, her grin grew wider.

"I love you, damn it!" she yelled and pulled Kenshi forward, meeting her lips with his.

Sub-zero turned around. They needed some privacy. The two Hasashis looked at her in puzzlement, but they followed her as she walked away from the couple. None of them uttered a word until they were already inside the house and seated on the sofas.

"All right." Scorpion cleared his throat. "What the hell just happened?" He was as confused as his brother. Hanzo eyed Sub-zero for a response.

"Well you see, the two of them _always_ fight. It starts out with one of them getting jealous because the other one's friend seemingly flirts with them. For example, today, Li Mei got jealous because Kenshi gave me flowers. So…in this situation, two negatives end up with a positive outcome. Therefore, The only way to get them to kiss and make up, literally, is to make Kenshi jealous as well."

"That doesn't make any sense." Hanzo concluded.

"Indubitably." Scorpion agreed.

"My plan worked, didn't it?" She pouted, slightly annoyed. "I deduced that at the end of their shouting match, Kenshi'd kiss Li Mei and they'd forget _everything_ else. And they say sorry to each other for being idiots." She shrugged.

"Maybe you should have become a scientist instead of a warrior, Grandmaster. With all the conclusions you've come up with, you would have been a great scientist." Hanzo grinned at her and ducked as she threatened him with a straw that was on the coffee table.

"That's interesting. I never thought about that." Scorpion stroked his chin. "I have a question for you, Subbie."

"Do you, now?" she stopped harassing Hanzo with the straw and raised a tentative brow at him.

"If I kissed _you_, would you forget about everything else?" He smiled at her seductively, which caused the said Lin Kuei to blush heavily.

"Uhh. I think I should leave now." Hanzo, feeling like a third wheel, stood up and made his way upstairs.

"I hardly think that is an appropriate question." Sub-zero tried to be diplomatic as Scorpion leaned forward.

"Hmm. It is a question nonetheless…One which you have not yet answered."

"Well, I-I-I…" she trailed off as Scorpion pressed his lips to hers softly. He grinned inwardly, already knowing the answer to his question.

* * *

"You know, this cereal-thing tastes great." Sub-zero told Kenshi as he sat down on the chair in front of her. "Maybe I should take some boxes back to Arctika." She mused.

"You had this planned didn't you?" Kenshi eyed Sub-zero. He watched as she scooped some cereal from her bowl.

"I had what planned?" Sub-zero looked at him innocently.

Kenshi laughed at her expression. "Yeah right. But thanks anyway." He turned his head to see Li Mei entering the dining area, still clad in her sleepwear.

"Good morning." He smiled at her and she blushed as he gave her a small peck on the cheek.

"Good morning." She returned the greeting softly, obviously embarrassed by Kenshi's public display of affection.

"Well, I'll go wake up Scorpion." Sub-zero excused herself from the two.

Kenshi knew that she left because she wanted him to talk to Li Mei. He gulped.

* * *

Scorpion looked up from the magazine he was reading as Sub-zero entered the room and flopped on the bed.

"What's up? I thought you were eating." he asked told her as he set aside the reading material Sonya had brought. Sub-zero looked at it, half-amused, half-curious.

"You were reading another fighting magazine? Haven't you read enough of those?" she grinned at him.

"Maybe I have, but you did not answer my question."

Man was he persistent. It was one of Scorpion's odd traits; he just refused to get side-tracked. Nor did he want people to change the subject abruptly.

"I _was_ eating. But I thought it best for Kenshi and Li Mei to talk."

"Now was that so hard?"

Sub-zero knew that he meant her answering his question and stuck her tongue out childishly at Scorpion. He laughed at her antics and shook his head.

"I have to admit something, though." He ran a hand through his untied hair. "You were right about everything."

"I was, wasn't I?" She gloated. "Although I haven't exactly answered one of Kenshi's questions."

"Which one was that?" he questioned.

"It's more of an imperative sentence." She laughed. "He said to name at least one thing he has in common with Li Mei."

"Well, based on your _observations _and _deductions_ I suppose it's a fairly easy question, right?" It was odd how Scorpion had transformed from a scary, hateful ninja spectre to a nice and supportive…significant other.

"It is. Although so far, I am only sure of three things they have in common."

Scorpion sat up straighter as he listened to her.

"One, their love for each other."

Scorpion rolled his eyes. "That's hardly something that can be counted as 'something you have in common'."

"I don't care. I'm including it." She sniffed. "Two, they both use swords as weapons."

"By the Elder Gods." Scorpion muttered.

"And three," she paused for a dramatic effect. "they both get jealous easily."

Scorpion chuckled at her last statement. "That definitely _is_ something they have in common."

"Yeah, but you don't have to have a lot in common with the love of your life." She wiggled an eyebrow at her and he laughed harder.

"Guess not. You know what they say, right?"

"Wrong."

"Opposites attract." He continued unperturbedly.

Sub-zero shook her head and tried to stop herself from smiling. "I think cheesiness, is something we _don't _have in common."

"Au contraire," Scorpion smirked at her. "I think it definitely _is_ something we have in common."

"Of course it is."

"Talking sarcastically is also something that we both enjoy." He added.

"Yeah, sure." She replied dismissively.

"I love you." He changed the subject abruptly. Sub-zero stared at him.

"_That_ was unexpected." She finally said.

"Engk!" he imitated the sound of a buzzer and formed an 'X' using his arms. "Wrong answer."

Sub-zero giggled at him. "I love you too." She replied, and Scorpion kissed her lightly.

"I still think cheesiness…" Scorpion prattled on and Sub-zero tried to tune out what he was saying and simply rolled her eyes at him.

* * *

As soon as she was gone, Li Mei spoke up.

"Kenshi," she sat down on the seat adjacent to his.

"Yes?" he asked warily. They hadn't talked yet, and he was afraid that once they did, they'd end up fighting again.

"I'm sorry." She apologized. "For getting jealous of Sub-zero. It was foolish of me."

Kenshi grasped her hand.

"I will forgive you if you forgive me." He looked straight into her eyes. The emotion in them made Kenshi forget what they were talking about. In fact, he seemed to forget who he was and why he was seated in front of such a beautiful woman.

Snapping back to his senses, he raised his hands to her cheeks and touched them gently. "I don't think you know how much you mean to me."

Li Mei's eyes were starting to get wet. She placed her hands on his cheeks as well.

"I meant what I said yesterday when we were…"

"Shouting at each other?" he finished for her.

"…Yeah." She said after a moment. "I really, do love you. It might have started out as admiration…but then I got attracted to you, and well, you know…" she trailed off.

"I do." He smiled at her so tenderly, causing the tears in her eyes to brim over. He wiped them away with his thumbs.

"Maybe…I still had doubts that you loved me." She said ruefully. "I-I-I knew how much you had loved Sub-zero. She's got everything, I suppose. How could I ever compete with that? I have nothing."

"Li Mei…" Kenshi pulled her into a tight embrace. Pulling back, he grasped her hand and stared into her dark brown eyes. "I think I already made a decision as to who I loved the most when I saved you from Darius…instead of saving Sub-zero from that Shokan. When I heard you scream…" he shook his head. "I…I just felt compelled to help you. I didn't know why." He paused. "Now I do."

"B-but we started - for lack of better term for it - going out a year after the great battle ended." She pointed out.

"Yeah. I needed that time to reflect. Of course I wouldn't be able to get over Sub-zero so quickly. I mean, I fell in love with her and she fell in love with somebody I didn't like before. That just sucked. But there was nothing I could do about it, right? So I moved on. And eventually, I fell for you…And I believe that it has been the best decision I've ever made."

Li Mei smiled at him, tears still rolling down her cheeks. Kenshi knew he made her happy, and was quite pleased with himself, even though he was only telling the truth. The two stared into each other's eyes, drowning in their love for each other.

**A/N: OMG. The cheesineeess! Shield your homes and hide your valuables! HAHAHA. Oh well. Sorry for the late upload. :| I've had some problems with my computer lately. :( My poor Compaq Presario. **

**Purplestar213, I hope you enjoy it! :) **

**Please leave a review! Thank you! :)**


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